Edmond

The story behind Cyrano de Bergerac

Posted:

Friday, February 22, 2019 - 6:12pm

Cyrano de Bergerac remains one of the most enduring figures of French literature. But Cyrano’s creator, Edmond Rostand, isn’t the household name that, say, Molière and Racine are. That might change with Edmond. With its mix of highbrow culture and lowbrow, behind-the-scenes, comedy, drama and romance, this Shakespeare In Love-style take on the story behind Cyrano de Bergerac is a crowd-pleaser.

It’s 1895 Paris, and a play by Rostand (Thomas Solivérès) starring Sarah Bernhardt (Clémentine Célarié, delicious) closes after barely a week. Two years later, Rostand still hasn’t written anything new. But then Bernhardt introduces him to the famous actor Constant Coquelin (Olivier Gourmet, fittingly grandiose), who needs a new hit. The urgency of the assignment gets Rostand’s creative juices flowing, and he improvises the story of Cyrano.

Of course, in this kind of fanciful re-creation, the famous story will have to be inspired by supposed events in the life of its creator, so a dashing actor (Tom Leeb) falls for costume designer Jeanne (Lucie Boujenah) but can’t find the words to express how he feels. Good thing he has a writer friend: Rostand, who is, of course, secretly in love with Jeanne as well. And she, in turn, turns out to be a major fan of Rostand’s writing, except she doesn’t know that he’s really the playwright she so admires.

Giovanni Fiore Coltellacci’s camera glides over Parisian rooftops and through bars and theatres, Franck Schwarz’s production design is vivid and opulent, and Thierry Delettre’s costumes are a feast for the eyes. Michalik clearly has a nose for creating crowd-pleasers with an appealing mix of froth, art and heart.